Somethings wrong with Konoha
by LizardTeeth
Summary: She wasn't meant to live this long. But lucky thirteen in the genin corps and shes burning out. Her commander playing at therapist reassigns her to give her time to put the pieces back together, but first she has to find them.
1. Chapter 1

"—Did you know, Sir, that in Konoha, you are considered a legal adult once you reach genin status? And that, in a strange coincidence, the orphanage is no longer obligated once a child is recognized as an adult?"

She finished what she considered a sufficient explanation, and stared unnervingly still at the foreign kage.

"Ko! What are you doing?!" Another member of the genin corps furiously whispered. "You can't say things like that to foreign leaders! What part of shut up and clean up did you not get?!"

She turned cold eyes on the girl being annoyingly loud, "Konoha is about to have more concerns than a mouthy genin."

Picking up an empty drink tray laid out for the executive class, she continued down the tunnel towards the kitchens, heedless of the frantic questioning behind her.

"Ko! What did you sense?! Ko, what's going on?!"

She snorted, in the strictest definition she certainly was a sensor type, but not in any useful degree. Even comparing her inborn ability to the class of Senju-sama or even the Inuzuka was laughable.

The most she could do was know the taste of different chakras. And in a world where it was as common as air, if she didn't know the individual chakra intimately, then she couldn't recognize it. She couldn't even track with it as a taste left no trail, if she trained her whole life with the ability, the most she would be able to do is spot a henge of a friend somewhat reliably.

But that chakra of the foreign kage, no matter how masked, one couldn't twist themselves into infinite variables, she knew that one. It sat heavy and bitter at the back of her throat. Syrupy dark melted chocolate dripping down, dangerous in its alluring potential.

There was only one man with that chakra, and fourteen years wasn't long enough to forget its taste.

Or the feeling of abandonment, betrayal. Hurt, not being good enough, and acceptance, knowing that she would never be good enough.

For the village, for a family, or for him to come back for.

* * *

"So, how are you doing with the invasion? Any lingering paranoia?" Nara-san leaned slightly back in his seat, idly fiddling with a pen, the picture of nonchalance.

She heard the unspoken question of if she would be back to the toil and grind of the genin corps. As if she had been doing anything but, the aftermath of the attack leading to nothing but days and nights of construction and rehabilitation labor.

Yet despite the inaneness of the question, her shoulders dropped the line of tension drumming through them minutely. That other genin corps member, the annoying girl, had perished in the first line. But she had not managed to tell anyone before being taken out by the Sound, a small mercy. For Ko.

She tilted her head slightly, "Are you qualified to be playing therapist?"

Nara-san pointed the pen at her meaningfully, "Avoiding the question and you know that. Besides, who else after you disqualified Yamanaka-san. Some believe that I'd be more resilient to a 'conflict of interest'"

His air quotes made her snort, but not laugh, not show teeth, her illogical fear of flashing burgundy canines halting her. She didn't even want to talk, afraid that with the movement of her jaw, the parting of her sealed lips, that blood would gargle and flood down her chin.

But not talking would only draw the session out longer, she knows from experience. At least Nara-san is laid back enough, on the surface at least, to not cite her for insubordination.

She coughed once, violently and suddenly, her momentary distraction overwhelming her with the coppery taste of freshly split blood. She wasn't sure she could ever become accustomed to Nara-san's rather 'unique' chakra signature.

"Feeling alright there? Not coming down with anything hopefully." He enquired, pleasantly even. The bastard. As if he wasn't perfectly aware of the discomfort that being in enclosed spaces with him caused her.

She fell back against the wooden chair, in a calculated easy sprawl. Rolling her shoulders, she finally got around to his initial question to end the session, "I'm in the genin corps Nara-san, I'm always paranoid. I'll continue performing my duty as usual under the new Hokage."

Instead of dismissing her as usual, a wounded pout found itself on Nara-san, _what, _"Aw Ko-chan, still with the stuffy Nara-san? You know that makes me feel old. Aren't we friends?"

_He was messing with her_.

He adopted a faux thoughtful expression. Tapping the pen against the scar cutting through his lip he mused, "What is it dear Ino-chan calls my lazy son? Ah! Shika-kun!"

_He was definitely messing with her._

He sent a grin her way that chilled her spine. Her corp-mates once likened it to a wolf, but Ko disagreed. A wolf hunts to eat, to survive. A herbivore hunts for the kill.

"Wouldn't a nickname bring us much closer Ko-chan?"

She snarled, "I'd rather die." And stood up so fast the spindly wooden chair was kicked behind her as she paced towards the door, but his voice stopped her in her tracks,

"That can be arranged."

In the corps, assumed familiarity with her superior's superior would eventually get her killed, as corps members would sell out their own mother for a chance at a favorable posting, but Commander Nara Shikaku could get it done so much faster.

She turned around to face him, his eyes sharp and jaw set, they were apparently about to discuss why she was really called in.

He tapped at a sheath of paper he unearthed, one flimsy paperclip trying its hardest to hold the sheets together, "Sit down, I have a few questions about your Invasion Position."

* * *

She let out a curse as her toe stubbed against a flat edge in the dark of the barracks. Judging by her position, Ai probably left her kit outside her parameters, _again_.

She passed another set of bunks and sighed in relief when she reached hers, laying down and tugging the blankets up and falling into sleep.

"Ko, did you not put out or something? Commander Nara was in a _mood _when I got called in today."

_Or not. _

Coming from the bunk above her. Emon must be back. _Great. _ He spent every other weekend visiting his parents, but lived the rest of the time in the barracks due to the almighty rows he and his sister would always get into.

She thought back to the last few numbing days of construction and petty gossip spread to liven the work. Earlier in the morning someone had spectacularly failed in the execution of an earth jutsu and ended up having the chakra buildup misfire, landing a teammate in the emergency tent.

_Yeah, that sounds like Emon._

"You should try doing your _job_ rather than depending on someone to prep him for you."

She could hear rustling as the man shifted around, "You just think you're better than us because you know some _clan _kids."

"Speak for yourself Emon. And you wouldn't have to deal with Commander Nara if it wasn't Commander Itō that you hit. You know Itō-san always goes easy on you."

Ah, Ai was present too, though by her rough voice, woken up, and not too happy about it. Emon could apparently hear it too as he just huffed and said nothing further.

* * *

If she makes it back to Konoha she's going to gut that rat bastard from division 2-A. She should have been running file gopher right now, not on 'border patrol' with a squad unfamiliar to her.

There's apparently a saying in Cloud that _prey backed into a corner becomes the predator_, though whoever likened that to Cloud had never hung around the barracks long enough for the gallows humor to come full play.

Squadron Leader 400D9 caught her gaze with his last eye, "I'll say hi to your parents for you ey?" The teasing lilt barely left the air before two halves slid apart in bloody carnage.

Ko was that last one left. But she was used to that.

She stared down at the lone kunai in her white knuckled grip, felt the unknown substance, but certainly that of her comrades, congeal in her hair, and blinked.

Between one blink and the next, the sharp tang of hot sauce and corrosive pineapple melted away, her kunai already rusting from the browning blood coating it's surface. The daytime that had seemed so elusive before now broke down in big bright rays, lighting up the field of broken bodies in gruesome pastels.

Feeling the pain in her hand from where many headbands were cutting her palm, Ko stumbled up from her crouch and began the long trek back, red shiny footprints trailing off into the tree line.

* * *

"Ko-chan, can you tell me what the last thing you remember is?"

Nara-san rested his forearms on his desk, peering at her without scrutiny. Like he actually cared about his question. She knew what he really asked.

_Are you breaking?_

Almost nineteen years old, fifteen being for the service of the Country, and only now she was seeing the obvious fractures. It's a wonder that she took so long. The burnout rate in the corps was astronomically fast, although most didn't live to see it, being that they were, in every sense of the word, cannon fodder. Their division made up of orphans and street kids, manipulation and backstabbing just tokens to be exchanged to try and hold on just a little bit longer. To escape from the Shinigami just a few more days.

She hated Emon.

With Nara-san staring at her, waiting for an answer he knew she would not give, all she could think about was how much she hated that snot nosed teenager.

He had a family, and siblings, a backup plan. And he _chose _to be here. Not only that, but he could walk away.

She never got that choice, lost in the constant shuffle of being someone else's problem, she wasn't even sure if she knew how to make an independent decision not based on orders, beyond her petty small rebellions. _Don't speak when not spoken too_. The base rule of the corps, and the easiest to break.

The buildup at the back of her throat became thicker, and rough fingertips grazed the edge of her jaw, lifting her chin to meet Nara-san's dark gaze, who even on one knee was taller than her by a head.

"Ko-chan, I'm going to need that answer. I have a feeling you don't want me to call in Yamanaka-san."

Her hand unconsciously swept over a row of bandages hidden by her thick dark pants, a gut wound, fatal if left, painful, but one of the longest ways to die. Long enough to make it through the gates.

"I left the border, and returned to Konoha"

A small frown tugged at the corner of his mouth and she knew, in the freefall where her gut would have been, that she had answered wrong. Somehow, telling the truth, and the only answer she had, was _wrong_.

In the pause, he trailed from her jaw to examine the healing gash across her cheekbone, now a raw bright red of new skin thanks to the application of healing chakra,

"What do you think the month is, Ko-chan?"

Instinctively, _did he think she was an idiot_, she spat out "July".

But looking past his disheartened, almost _pitying_, expression, she looked out the window and observed for perhaps the first time in a long while. The trees, that were so bountiful in their village, were burnt oranges and falling browns, and the littler ones held no leaves at all.

She was fighting the currents of time, it seemed, and was losing miserably.

With a hand on her shoulder, Nara-san stood up, but kept her in the chair.

"I'm going to take you off of active duty. With the hubbub of the administration building I'm sure they wouldn't mind a new assistant for the time being."

The new Hokage. A renowned medical ninja with her apprentice who she trained herself from a young age. The tower guards, most trusted in the village. She was being _monitored_.

_Threat. Liability. Tool. And eventually, taken out_.

It seems like she's achieved what few before her have in the corps, outlived her usefulness.

The hand around her wrist slid her out of her thoughts and to standing pause, awaiting new orders.

Nara-san made for the door with a soft _still pitying_, "Hey none of that. I'll take you to your new station, but I can't stay much longer. **Be nice**."

She wished she could say that being led through the office hallways and across the village by Nara-san was unexpected, but it was quite the norm. He always had her by the wrist or the arm, notably one time with her arm in a sling he had tugged her along by the strap of her messenger bag. It was like he thought that she would make a runner at any give, although the difference being in their ranks, she didn't see the point but did see the futility if she had half a mind to do so.

The Hokage tower, a short squat building, stood out for its bright red among the surrounding darks of the other structures. She didn't have long to linger on the tactics of having such an obvious building before being inside and shoved into an outer office with a "Have fun!".

A girl pouring over an ungodly thick book in the corner of the room giggled and gave her a slight wave. She focused on the girls unevenly choppy hair and with a frantic short laugh the thought that it would send any Yamanaka into a stroke ran across her mind.

Cautiously stepping over to the girls table, she searched her mind for any conversation starters, desperate to not just sit alone and wait for a command.

"So you, um, work here?"

The girl bobbed her head, "Sort of!" She stuck out an ink covered hand, "Hi! I'm Haruno Sakura!"


	2. Chapter 2

An hour had gone by without another person entering the room, and she had migrated over to Haruno-san's side, reading the dense textbook over her shoulder.

She knew that she would never have the thin edge of chakra control required to use medical jutsu, but nothing stopped her from brushing up on the functions of the body, and it's vital points.

As the minutes ticked on, Haruno-san fidgeting increased.

Apparently taking Ko's side glance as permission, the girl asked quietly, "You know me, right?"

Confused, she replied, wondering if it was a test, "You are Haruno Sakura, as you introduced yourself when I entered the room."

The girl kept her head lowered and eyes firmly on the text, "Yes, but I mean, other than that?"

_Ah, this was a test then_. By rote, Ko dictated her latent observations, "You're a genin, your chakra is light and nonthreatening, probably due to a significant imbalance in yin and yang chakra, although by your physical state I would say a heavy load of yin over yang. Most observation leads to a conclusion of civilian background, unless the Hatake has had another heir recently, though due to the state of your physical condition I would hazard not."

Haruno-san choked, "H-Hatake?"

She tilted her head but replied nonetheless "they do tend to produce children with pastel coloring"

Haruno-san finally met her eyes again with a frantic waving of her hands, "Nevermind! I meant, -I meant about my teammate!"

Ko narrowed her eyes. This little civilian ninja had a permanent teammate? A three man squad then, unusual for a nonclan graduate. She was wondering why the girl expected her to know her history; even if she had competed in the exams, Ko had worked them, not watched.

She shrugged, and the girl bit her lip in thought before continuing. "Well, it's just that, something happened with him. And I really liked him! And I hoped I could get him to like me too! I grew out my hair, and dieted and tried to look pretty, and I was beating Ino-chan!"

A torrent of words escaped the girl, and she continued on as Ko thought, idling filing away the chatter in case it came up later. _Ino-chan? Wasn't Nara-san's son younger? _Her commander talked a lot about his son and his 'tiny cute friends' during the lunches he strongarmed her into, but she hardly could keep all of his errant comments straight, as she knew she would never meet the kids.

Something was tickling her mind though. Focusing on the pink hair as the girl continued rambling, turning bright pink at times as she exclaimed and wildly motioned, something floating close to her consciousness.

What was it about pink?

_"And then Shikamaru-kun was so mad that the library didn't have the book he wanted! The next thing I know, I come home to tiny pink blob on my couch with Shikamaru-kun, both poring over a scroll thicker than their noodle arms! It was so cute!"_

_"Someday that boy is going to learn that you have to make cherry blossoms fall for you, you can't just awkwardly stalk them. Although it is very cute! I took pictures!" _

"What are you trying to gain from him, that you would hurt yourself?"

Haruno-san self consciously fiddled the choppy pieces framing her face, "I'm not trying to gain anything, I just wanted him to like me!"

She understood wanting to change someone's feeling for a purpose, but the girl's end goal eluded her. "What benefit does manipulating him get you?"

Her face turned red, "It's not manipulation! I just like him!"

Ko blanched. _Ah shit. _She fancied the boy. She wanted to date, and hell was this twig even old enough to think about things like that?

She wouldn't know, on her twelfth birthday she was halfway done with her undercover stint as aspiring med nin in a back alley Lightning town. Take over from the head nin when chakra exhaustion hit, and botch the half finished surgery. She had a zero percent survival rate, her chakra control was _unfortunately _just not good enough.

Ko tried to compromise with the ruffled girl, "Alright. So you want to ...date. Why not 'date' the kid that's head over heels instead of running after some loser?"

Sakura sputtered, as Ko apparently once again answered _wrong_, "I'm not dating Naruto!"

"Who the hell is _Naruto_? Shikimaru-san or whatever the hell his name is?"

Sakura squeaked "_What_" and then turned deathly pale.

Ko knew who was coming up behind her before the shadow fell over her, the hand needn't clamp down on her shoulder as her mouth became congealed as soon as he entered the room.

She turned her head slightly to see the strained smile directed her way by her commander, "Spilling my son's secrets already Ko-chan? It's good to see that you're making friends!"

He threaded his fingers through hers and gripped her hand with a deceptively light pressure, using his leverage to pull her up and out the door with nothing but a "Have a good day Sakura-chan!"

* * *

Once they hit the street, Ko experimented and tried to tug her hand free but he only gripped tighter, as expected.

Lagging behind him respectfully, ignoring the drop in his expression, she asked, "I made a 'friend'. Am I back on duty?" Talking with Haruno-san was alright, but being in the Hokage tower weighed on her, anything could be a test and she wouldn't know until the execution.

Nara-san choked out a laugh, "No. Six hours and talking to someone somewhat pleasantly isn't enough to put you back in rotation." He pulled her sidelong and gazed down at her, "Haruno-san knows when it's time to go home."

The setting sun dipped beyond the horizon, leaving the village in a misty darkness, lanterns lighting up down the row, and crickets chirping, settling nighttime over the village like a comfortable blanket.

She hadn't thought that she was in there for so long, an hour, two hours at most.

Nara-san asked, "Would you have gone away on your own?"

Instinctively, "I wouldn't abandon my post until relieved."

"Hopefully a few months will get you back on track! You can come and go as you please, this isn't a posting, it's simply, helping out. Think of it as community service!"

Her breathing seized up, _months_, she didn't know if she could handle the pressure.

He took a right where she had been expecting to take a left, and she collided with his vest.

He chuckled and went on with renewed bounce, but silenced immediately on her next words,

"That tattered thing smells like mothballs. Get rid of it or wash it at least."

He turned down an alley that she _knew _led to an uncomfortably familiar street, "And just for that, you get the couch tonight."

_Couch._ Dread settled like lead in her stomach, overwhelming her clogged throat with something altogether more unpleasant. She tried to force him to a stop, or slow down, but he, in an unexpected move, let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist, propelling her forward to a place she _very _did _not _want to go.

"Sir. Sir! This is not the way to the barracks! This is the streets for—"

He pulled her close so that she could feel him shaking with suppressed laughter. Trying to rub in the torture, _the bastard_.

"Nope! Barracks are for active duty members! And since I doubt you have an outside apartment, you'll be couch crashing for a while! Well, room crashing, but tonight, you're getting the couch!"

When this made the gossip rounds, _she was so dead_.

* * *

The couch wasn't exactly the problem, she's rested in worse after all. It may have been shorter than she was tall, but as she usually slept curled up, this wasn't a problem.

The house was dark enough, and silent, though not eerily so, with the old house settling in the night.

However, her superior resting in a room merely twenty strides away in no way enabled her mind to calm enough to get any semblance of rest.

The couch faced the clear sliding doors leading into the forest, allowing Ko a perfect view as the sun peeked through the bare branches.

As soon as daylight touched the long grass, Ko was carefully closing the front door, and trekking to the Hokage Tower.

Maybe their decision would be made today.

* * *

"Oh! Hello Ko-san!" Haruno-san sketched a quick bow and went back to her book, a different text today.

She briefly wondered if perhaps the girl had read through the night, but the cut of Haruno-san's shirt was slightly different and her eyes were bright, clear, and focused. So just an early worker than.

Belatedly she returned the greeting, "Good Morning Haruno-san"

That got to girl to flip her head up from the book quickly and shoot her a lopsided smile, "Oh Ko-san, please feel free to call me Sakura!"

The only people she had ever called by their given names so quickly were those who had no other. _Is this friendship? Is this too fast? _

She inclined her head in compliance with the request and seated herself next to… Sakura-san.

A few minutes passed as Ko sat quietly, nothing but soft breathing and the flutter of turning pages to focus on.

The lack of stimulus let her devote time to picking out the subtle taste cresting on her tongue. It built up and dissolved, as if it was fragile, almost akin to spun sugar. Ko's brows snapped together.

That was exactly it. The pure, light, but sweet taste was undiluted sugar, cotton candy. Falls apart easily, but a thin amount could be built up to unimaginable levels easily and quickly.

Glancing at the girls pastel coloring, she had to stop from cracking a smile, _poor girl. _

The peace shattered abruptly when the door blocking access to the inner office flew open and violently buried itself into the wall.

She choked on dirt, eyes watering as her windpipe clogged itself, ignoring the woman yelling questions at her new friend as she tried desperately to not get buried alive.

All at once, the dirt receded, making her feel gross, and out of breath, and heart hammering, but no longer suffocating.

Ko looked up to lock eyes with the woman who was able to gather her spilled chakra and roll it into a neat little ball, constrained within her body.

Not breaking contact the woman asked, "Sakura, using the knowledge you've gained from those texts, if it was you, a kunai, and an opponent, how would you take them down?"

The girl hesitantly replied, "I-I suppose that by sliding between the ribs that I would be able to hit their heart."

"And you."

She quirked her head, "The neck. No pesky bones in the way. Even if you're unable to sever the head, slicing the jugular will usually ensure a fatality and not many nin can retaliate choking on their own blood."

The terrifying woman flashed her teeth in a mockery of a jovial grin. "Yeah this one's a corpy all right. I'm Senju Tsunade and apparently you're mine until I say otherwise."

A faint inner voice made out _Ah, alright, so I just met the Hokage_.


	3. Chapter 3

She munched quietly on a ration bar, Sakura-san being present so close to her tinging the normally bland necessity sweet.

Sakura-san rambled on, flinging her previously lettuce covered fork to and fro, "—Its just so exciting! A sanin you know! And now I can catch up! And I won't be a burden anymore! You know, in our last war Tsunade-sama changed policy…"

Ko listened with the barest attention, rather taking in the canteen around them. Despite it being late enough in the day for the hardier dinner options to be served, it was nearly empty besides them.

She would bet that there's a different canteen, one harder to access, for the true employees, not temps and students.

She turned her attention back to Sakura-san as the flow of words paused, the girl appearing to be fighting an internal battle. She really did show her emotions on her face, a truly unexperienced shinobi.

Sakura-san blurted out, "How old are you?"

Immediately, "Nineteen"

Sakura-san stiffened her shoulders, "Did you know of an Uchiha Itachi?"

Ah. That kid. She was still a bit peeved that he skipped town without settling his debt.

"We were in the same academy courses temporarily, as we are the same age. Has he been by the village recently?"

Sakura-san started stabbing her salad aggressively, "Yeah, he came into the village and injured Kakashi-sensei and then tracked down Naruto-kun and hurt Sasuke-kun! I just, don't know of anyone else who wasn't too old or young so I thought that you might know of him."

When Sakura-san confirmed that the kid had been in the village, the remaining ration bar in her grip turned to powder. He had been _so close_ and he couldn't have told one of his annoying summons to slip her a few bills. _She was going to beat him with his own sandal next time she saw him._

She glanced at Sakura-san's shocked face as she released her grip on the pulverised bar and thought that she should explain,

"I can't really speak to what he was like in battle or as a comrade, as he advanced through the ranks much too quick for us to ever be sent out together. But, he's a bit of a _loser_ really. Really quiet socially awkward kid. The only time you couldn't get him to shut up was if you got him started on manga. Isekai was definitely his favorite, escaping to a new world really appealed to him. Also a super picky eater. Had the most varied Pocky collection I've ever seen, which makes sense because his missions took him all over. I guess the other kids in my div liked him? He had a really steady hand so a lot of kids would borrow him to do nail designs. Hated staying at his house so during his rare down time he would be in the barracks. Had his own bunk and everything. Wouldn't think he'd be, but so messy. On inspection day we'd all have to pitch in to put the nerd stuff and food away neatly. I don't think he knew how to make a bed before he moved in with us."

Sakura-san gaped at her, and the back of Ko's neck started burning, "Listen, I'm just mad at him because when we were twelve he borrowed some cash for a preorder, something happened on a mission and I was out of commission for a while, and when I got out he skipped town!"

Sakura-san started flailing her hands, "B-but didn't he murder his own family?!"

Ko's eyebrow quirked, "Unless they burned his limited edition I doubt it was murder. He was as much of an order monkey as any of us."

Sakura-san's brow furrowed, "you mentioned him staying with a group of people, do you think I could talk to any of them?"

_Seven years ago_. "Of division 25B, I am the only remaining member."

"Wh-hat?!"

Simultaneously a hand dropped down as a faux cheerful voice range out, much too close to my ear, "Looks like you girls are having a fun time discussing state secrets! But Ko-chan needs sleep so we're leaving! Say goodbye Sakura-chan!"

Her world was flipped upside down as she was flung over _someone's_ shoulder, face paling significantly as her wound was split open by the sudden impact. As the tiles she could see switched from the canteen linoleum to the wooden slates of the main hallway, slowly blood started pooling in the back of her throat, crawling forward to press against her clenched lips.

_How. _"Have you been able to mask this aspect of your chakra this whole time?"

His shoulders shrugged and she bit back a pained whine, "Maybe. Who knows."

_Bastard._

* * *

He didn't let her go until they had crossed several rooms deep into his home. She had finally found a comfortable position, propping her chin on her palm as she dug her elbow into his back, when he deposited her on the bed.

He put pressed a hand against his forehead and groaned, "Just what are we going to do with you?"

She didn't move, despite the soft mattress asking her to sink in and relax, "A simple filing of insubordination with recommended punishment would suffice sir."

A muscle in his jaw twitched, "I'm not going to kill you! I'm actively trying to keep you alive!" He sighed and turned toward the door. "And you make it harder every day."

As soon as the door closed, she lifted up her black shirt and at the bright red staining her bandages. "That idiot…"

She opened her messenger bag and pulled out a needle and thread, and a clean roll of bandages.

Hospitals were expensive, and unless being covered by after mission conditions, she never went willingly, as they were not afraid to garnish wages.

Besides, her water nature was enough to ensure that she always had disinfected instruments.

Looking away as she renewed the broken stitches, Ko thought. A dangerous thing in and of itself. She was naturally prone to curiosity, and if she allowed her mind to wander off of the litany of orders, it was hard to reign it back in. In their village, everything was curious, and everybody had a secret, and it was oft better for one's health to not think too hard on hidden meanings.

_Why would the elimination of 25B be a state secret?_ Their group had a high mortality rate, but so did any group that Ko was in.

_Is that normal?_

Furthermore, why would Nara-san be actively trying to keep her alive? Other than an incident seven years ago, she had only started interacting with him within the past year or so.

She was in the business of dying.

So why was she alive?


	4. Chapter 4

Cold fingers stilled her lungs and grasped her throat, her eyes flying open to see nothing but a fuzzy darkness.

She sat up quickly, fighting the gravitational pull of the too soft mattress, and with a gasp was able to breathe freely again. Sucking air greedily into her frozen lungs she looked down at what landed in her lap with a soft plop.

Deep brown eyes glared balefully up at Ko.

Matching the viciousness of the stare, Ko growled, "Shirakawa-sama, to what do I owe the honor of early morning suffocation?"

The rabbit huffed and thumped it's hind leg irritably, "I nobly consented to bring you congratulations on your survival, and a letter of entry, but with this attitude towards your vast social superiors, I'm quite surprised that you are still alive."

The summon disappeared in a haughty huff and puff of smoke, leaving a note card in its place.

**The**_** Biweekly Corps Retirees **_**say congrats on being alive! You have joined the 1%! **

**Come join and party!**

**This card is good for you and one guest!**

"_Oh_,'' she gently picked up the ordinary note card, written on with ordinary marker, but was deceptively filled with chakra, if the Wintergreen frost chilling her was any indication.

The 1%, something most corps members joked about, but was a depressingly accurate number for how many people managed to retire. Corps for life, however long.

According to the back of the card, the next meeting was in three days, slightly outside the village, and she needed to find a second in that time frame. Someone with an excellent poker face hopefully, in lieu of life threatening missions, most retirees turned into fearsome card sharks.

But the prize was worth the hassle of socializing outside her comfort zone.

A favor. If she plays her cards right, quite literally, she could even walk away with a few.

Taking an extra length of bandage from the side table, she wrapped the card around her upper arm and pulled on her usual regulation shirt.

From the sun that was quite settled in the sky, it was nearing ten, the longest she had slept without hospital assistance in a while. Glancing ruefully at the all too comfortable bed, she pulled the sheets taut, and slipped out the door.

She was planning on crossing the living room, grabbing her sandals by the entrance, and starting her hunt, but was stopped short by the lanky figure lounging against the breakfast counter, staring her down steadily.

She was quick sick of being stared at this morning.

With a "Good morning Shikamaru-san" she crouched down and began pulling on her sandals.

A quiet, "Dad wanted to let you know that he's going to be gone in a few days for a short mission."

She waited a few beats, but when nothing further came she gave a sharp nod to the chunin and headed outside.

She was pretty sure that she had unfettered access to the tower, given that she was able to arrive the other day at dawn with no repercussions. And for what she was hunting, well, it would be pure stupidity to not have the tower covered.

At half past ten the first floor was bustling, fresh genin recruits ferrying paperwork with a bounce and urgency in their step, and older gophers side eyeing them as they gulped down acid coffee and caught up with the previous shift.

Ignoring the obvious usuals, Ko headed directly towards the teenager who was carrying a stack of papers with purpose, cutting through the traffic with even measured steps.

Pulling up beside him, Ko couldn't resist a sharp smirk at the soapy chakra becoming clearer. Jackpot.

Active members of the Corp were forbidden from participating, and most other active duty were on missions to bring in restoration money for the village, despite the invasion being months behind them.

But Root Anbu members were in a special class all on their own.

As joining the 1% was a fantasy for most, divs often wasted time on mission downtime by exchanging plans for just who they would choose for their second. Div 25B came to the conclusion that Root would be the best choice, given one could hunt one down, due to their excellent poker faces.

They were supposed to shut down, but considering a bunch of socially inept highly trained ninja did not suddenly appear in the village, pretty much everyone knew it it was a paper bandage.

Like a mercenary village would waste resources to reshape a primed weapon.

Ko looked down at the young Aburame who wasn't ignoring her, but simply not acknowledging her presence.

Most Root members tasted clinical, like antiseptic, but the amount of individual chakra beings in this kids body gave him a more bubbly taste, though still reminiscent of the orphanage matron washing her mouth out when she her tongue was too sharp.

"So where you taking those?"

Robotically, "Classified."

"Huh, well as we are not heading towards a staircase, and there's no classified drops on this floor, I think you're full of shit. How long you been running back and forth looking busy with that same stack kid?"

Goggles turned towards her, "What do you want?", in that same flat tone.

But she grinned, _perfect_. She wasn't expecting to break him so soon, thought that she'd have to tail him for at least an hour. Maybe she was too used to Yamanaka Root and thought they were the norm.

As they came to the end of the hallway, Ko stepped into the windowsill and gave every appearance of leaving, "Say that you'll meet me at the Eastern gate sunup in three days and I'll leave you alone."

She knew that hanging around him would be unusual, and he knew it would compromise his mission, and she knew that he knew that she knew that he would not want to compromise it at any cost.

He nodded sharply, "Sunup, three days, East Gate, accepted."

She waved as he pivoted and began striding back towards the atrium, "See you later Aburame."

He didn't falter as he replied, "Its Torune. Just Torune."

As she swung out the window and ran up to the third floor, Ko began feeling the flicker of an even more dangerous emotion than curiosity kindle inside of her. Hope.

She must have been around five or six the last time she let that feeling flourish. Being shuttled around the orphanage, the academy, straight into the corps and life becoming just surviving one more day until all she could see was a black exhausting tunnel of why nots. If she was always a hair's breadth from slipping away, _why not_.

Hope allowed for stupid decisions, and with things going so_ right_ for a change, she was _close_ to finding something out, she couldn't afford to trip now.

Ko vaulted through the window and landed right before Sakura-san's usual table. Looking up from her landing at Nara-san lounging on the table was _not _usual.

"Sir!" She took a step towards him and hooked her foot behind her ankle and went sprawling like some green academy student whose sensei appeared behind them during drills.


	5. Chapter 5

Strong arms caught her and righted her position before Ko had even time to process that Nara-san had moved.

So quietly she wasn't sure if it was said aloud, she heard, "Ha, that's how you catch a woman. I should teach my son that."

Ko inclined her head to her commander and asked, "Sir?"

Nara-san clapped his hands in remembrance, "Ah right! Imagine my confusion and dismay upon coming to this very office to steal away my adorable Ko-chan for lunch only to discover that she was missing! Could she be hurt, unable to find help somewhere? Kidnapped? The possibilities are just too much to imagine!"

Cutting his fantasy short before he could really ramp himself up to high theatrics, Ko cut in with an unimpressed arch of her brow, "I was right downstairs in administration,something I am sure you knew as you are here."

Nara-san dramatically sighed, evidently not giving up in his quest for a reaction, "You wound me with accusations of my casual reaction! I was simply waiting to ambush our lauded Hokage-sama to organize a manhunt to find my most precious friend!"

"Yamanaka-san is missing?" His prose was too much for her, and she could feel the contentedness the sleep had given her fleeing. Ko didn't see anyone else in the room and wondered what he bribed Sakura-san with for her to leave her study table. "Why are you here sir?"

Nara-san smiled down at her and looped her arm through his to herd her out the door, "I wasn't lying about the meal. Ah, but have to leave earlier than expected. Troublesome. I'm leaving soon for my mission and won't be back for a week, so I wanted to see you before I left."

Ko allowed herself to be dragged along, _someone wants to lay out some ground rules. _There wasn't any other reason she could see for this other a situation in which he could relay information with her being unable to leave due to social construct. When he dismissed her, he wasn't technically in her direct line of superior's, which would never stop him.

* * *

They were seated in the outside patio of a cute little cafe, with their usuals that the waitress had placed down for them as soon as she saw them coming. Ko fiddled with her boba straw and wondered if that meant that they came too often. Its not like she had any say in the matter.

Nara-san reached over and stole a bite of her dango before even starting his meal, ignoring her half-hearted swat, "Aren't you going to miss me Ko-chan?"

Ko dipped a piece of his tempura in sauce and nibbled on it before answering easily, "No."

"~Ah so cold Ko-chan, even though I think about you so much."

She wondered where this childish version of her commander was coming from. He always got his way, and liked to tease, but it always had a hard edge underneath, a hidden blade. She couldn't figure what he was getting out of acting … _cute. _ But she hated it, it felt like she was being treated with kid gloves, something she never had to experience before.

* * *

Ko was dropped back off at the tower with a wave, and as she greeted the now present Sakura-san, she realized that the expected warning or rules never came. Nara-san stole her sweets and she ate his meat in return, but the conversation never delved below surface level.

With the upcoming game however, all she felt was slightly thankful for his leaving. As a full citizen of Konoha and not in any special placements, she was allowed to go into the town just beyond the walls, but she wasn't looking forward to explaining her absence to the commander. The one time he had insisted on coming with her was enough for her to never venture out beyond the walls besides missions since.

* * *

With Nara-san gone, the one night Ko was able to sleep soundly, the other two spent pulling accidental overnights running various duties in the tower.

But sunrise on the third day and Ko was approaching the less populated East gate to see a dutiful figure waiting.

"Torune, ready to go?"

Ko didn't waste time with formalities and she knew that he didn't expect nor want any.

"Yes."

And so they set out to the small unassuming house on the edge of the vegetable patch beyond the walls.

Being technically still part of Konoha, the farming town was not far, but still the better part of an hour even when moving at a good clip. Having to clear out the forest for fields directly next to the village would defeat the purpose of the moniker 'village hidden in the leaves'.

Ko rapped on the correct door and fished out the entry card.

"Hey! Welcome! Come on in!" A sunny blonde had swung open the door and invited them in and before even taking in the non-existent taste of chakra, Ko had her pegged as a civilian.

A Nara waved at them from the large rounded wooden table and gestured to a set of empty chairs, "We're glad you can make it, just waiting on one or two other groups. I'm Arata and Misiki let you two in. I'm sure you know the drill, poker and bets, same same."

Ko sketched a slight bow and thanked them for the invitation before sitting in the chair and taking in the other members. Torune was as well, though far less subtly and with thrum of tension running through him.

Who knew that Root agents could still feel nervous.

The table was set for six players; the Nara couple, a middle aged woman with her head wrapped and was seemingly blind but able to rifle through the cupboards in search of chips just fine, a teenaged temple maiden, the two of them, and the remaining empty pair of chairs.

The room darkened, the outer door creaked open, and with everyone's attention drawn, the previously sunny skies thundered and poured, a lucky lightning strike highlighting the figure darkening the stoop.

The corner of Ko's mouth twitched, and glad that she had kept her sandals within reach, she hurled one at the figure, "Turn the illusions off nerd and get in here so we can play!"


	6. Chapter 6

_"Welcome to the 'Disappointing your family club!'"_

_Ko wasn't sure what she was expecting from division 25B, but this… wasn't it. _

_Uchiha Kishi smiled so wide it looked like it hurt as he welcomed her to the eight member division. Despite his words, his bright blue eyes glittered mischievously, a dead giveaway to the reason behind his placement here. _

_She looked around and immediately spotted a Nara, a Yamanaka, a Hyuga, an Aburame, and a Inuzuka. That left one other nonclan kid other than her. But despite being surrounded by them, the girl seemed comfortable with the group. _

_Well once you hit the genin corps they're all rejects anyways. _

_Ko bowed and offered a tentative smile, "Please take care of me." _

_Uchiha Kishi bounded over to her in all the enthusiasm and coordination of a puppy, "Of course, you're one of use now! Feel free to call me Kishi! Don't think of me as a Uchiha, because they sure as hell don't!" _

_The Hyuga beaned Kishi-kun in the head with a paper airplane, "Hey being the bastard of the clan still means that you're in the clan." _

_"Ah! You are one to talk Shin!"_

_"Oh believe me, if you could unadopt a clan I'd be the first one to stand in that government line." _

_As the boys cheerfully argued, with none of the animosity expected from the two clans interacting, the division leader approached Ko. _

_She swung into a deeper bow, raising up when the woman started talking, _

_"Oh hey, none of that. I'm Nara Yoshino, the chunin in charge of 25B. They're a bit wild but I'm sure you'll learn to love them soon. What do you want to be called?"_

_Eyes wide, Ko stammered, "I'm, just Ko. Ko is fine, I don't have any other name." _

_How long had it been since a superior had treated her with more respect than something to bark orders at? Despite being only ten, it had been years. _

_Commander Nara smiled approvingly and patted the top of her head, "Alright 'just Ko', let's get you settled in huh?" _

_Over the course of months turning into years, of squabbles and fights, and hurts, and just as many, if not more, sharing and kindness and love, Ko got to know division 25B as more than coworkers but as family, a word she's never been able to use before. _

_When being called a bastard, Kishi-kun couldn't refute it as it was true. He was left with his father as a baby with nothing more than a note, and over time as his Uchiha feature became evident, the bright of his eyes never bled into the tomoe, an impossibility for him. According to the clan, he had neither breeding nor talent nor personality going for him, and as he could only control one, might as well have the best possible personality. _

_His near encyclopedic knowledge of plants and their uses ensured that they always ate well on missions and his natural ability for weaving stories made the time pass quickly. And so, if occasionally a scream broke out in the dead of night, it was never mentioned but an extra ration of tea might be waiting for him in the morning. _

_Surprisingly, at least in the political climate of the village, Hyuga Shin was his near fraternal twin, it being rare that the two not be together, either training, reading, eating, or shoving their bedrolls together to sleep back to back. _

_Shin-kun was on a tight deadline, and although he couldn't become a fantastic shinobi, he wanted to leave with found family, and the ability to provide a home. Every mission, use of the Byukagan or not, every bit of chakra expended put another bit of tension on his optic nerve. He was giving himself chakra poisoning and there was nothing he could do. Eventually the pressure would be too great, and he would go completely blind, it was a matter of time and chance, even if he never activated his chakra again. _

_But the dream he freely shared but privately burned within him, was to earn enough to be able to provide a residence of his own, to support them when they were able to escape. He was fifteen and could feel the clock ticking down, every day pushing himself just a bit more, another shift, an extra bonus here or there. _

_So when Kishi-kun curled up against his side with a tome to read the indescribable text, whoever was around also sat down and listened._

_Everyone had a story, and everyone was just trying to get through the day. It wasn't an idyllic life, but it was happier than Ko thought she could be. _

_Aburame Eri, whose body rejected the insects of the clan but had a small ant farm that she religiously tended to. And if she smuggled a kitten into the dorms, well they all pitched in to keep it hidden, although they were pretty sure that Commander Nara knew. _

_Yamanaka Yukio, the rising genius of the Yamanaka clan, who swore to never invade another's mind and devoted himself to taijustu, a less successful approach but, it made him happy. _

_He graduated the academy at seven, and followed Wakaki Ryoko straight into the genin corps. _

_Ryoko-chan punched an upperclassman for him his first year in the academy, and he swore lifetime loyalty to her, graduating in a year to be able to follow her, despite her being three years older. _

_Ryoko-chan was kind of like that, she had the whole shining knight atmosphere to her and tended to leave strong impressions on people. A good half of div 2A studiously avoided her and her sledgehammer fists. _

_By all accounts Nara Misaki was the typical unmotivated whip smart Nara. If Ko wasn't absolutely certain by the hollow taste left behind that her bunkmate was a clone more often than not. But she never said anything, and so every so often tiny sweets and treasures from across the elemental nations would occasionally be found underneath her pillow. _

_Inuzuka Kin was… special. To Ko. She was a year older and grabbed life by it's throat. If Kin had the ability to not trip on empty space, then Ko was certain that she would have been the best, simply because nothing could tell her no. She didn't have a dog typical of the clan, and she would have thought her situation similar to Eri's except, whenever the topic was hinted at, the light in Kin's eyes died and her smile would flicker. Ko didn't need to be told what happened, because she felt like she already knew. _

_Kin was reckless and was more than a best friend or family to Ko. She was also her first crush. Being pulled into shenanigans that more than likely they would be caught for, and she never regretted it, not even once. Because she had never smiled this much or laughed so hard. And so if she took an extra hit in a skirmish because Kin was lacking technique, well it didn't really matter as long as they all got home at the end of the day to hear Kishi-kun read and offer strokes and string to the not so secret kitten. _

_And like any other notable experience in Ko's life, change came unexpectedly, suddenly, and violently. _

_Ko had so many memories of the Disappointing Family Club, but for some reason, only one clear image of her chunin commander. _

_Dark eyes so close. Too close to her own and shallow breaths so weak that even pressed together she could barely feel the moving air. Warm liquid that reflected the moonlight ran down her useless hands as the scrabbled at the sharp edge of a blade driving into her abdomen, through the other woman's. And surrounded by so many blank unrecognizable eyes. _

_"Alright 'Just Ko?'" _

_It echoed. It wasn't a real voice. Because it was silent. No wind whispered. In this open field, it was the first time that only Ko remained. _

_It wouldn't be the last._


	7. Chapter 7

Itachi-chan placidly listed to the side, letting the sandal fly by him and hit a smaller figure behind him.

Clutching the sandal, an exuberant blonde burst past Itachi-chan and into the house, "What's the big idea! Keep your footwear on your feet lady!"

_Lady. _That was a first one for Ko. She inclined her head towards the kid as she addressed Itachi-chan, the others suspended in a bit of confused horror, "What's that?"

Itachi-chan slowly blinked, like he couldn't quite possibly have any idea what she was talking about, like when she asked who gave him r-18 manga that he badly his under his mattress.

He ambled over the open chair next to her with the back towards the corner and, sharingan off, this was no place for cheaters, looked vaguely in the direction of the kid now asking rapid fire questions at the chip seeker.

"Oh." He shrugged. "A Uzumaki".

That matched up with the sting in her nose and the brine coating her tongue.

On the other hand,

"You gonna rope him in so we can play or?"

While Itachi-chan called across the room to the boy, "Come over here."

"Why? I'm hungry!"

"Remember? Jutsu?"

"Cool Jutsu, cool Jutsu, _cool Jutsu_!"

Nara-san leaned over the table towards Ko while watching that circus go down, "Is that, you know, twelve years ago, tails, that?"

Ko pursed her lips, "If you mean did he track down the only Uzumaki left in Konoha and brought him and his family's infamous luck to the poker game, then yes."

She wasn't thrilled that her chance of obtaining a favor was rapidly spiraling down the drain, but, finders keepers.

They were all seated at the table when Nara-san announced, "Okay, any last minute deals or announcements that need to be made before we play?"

Ko raised her hand slightly, turned to Itachi-chan, and slid a crisply wrapped package over to him, keeping one hand still firmly on the package.

"I don't know how useful this will be to you, considering your vision has gone to shit from reading at night so much, but I don't want it in my space anymore, and I want my money."

Itachi slid his wallet over for her to pick through and with trembling hands, picked up the _Limited Collector's Edition Special Release Magic Knight Rayearth_ and clutched it to his chest. Ko turned her head away casually when his eyes started watering.

The game slid by quickly, Torune doing about as Ko had expected, his poker face holding steady but he didn't take any big risks and was quick to fold.

The Uzumaki threw off all of her expectations about the day, as all the fallen Uzumaki's game luck seemed to have coalesced into one child. She could feel Itachi-chan's smug satisfaction at her side. Though whether that was through winning or just pure delight at the immaculate box set she couldn't say.

As they were saying their goodbyes in the village, the other couple being the first to arrive and first to leave, Itachi-chan leaned in close to Ko, close enough for bacon to sizzle in the back of her mouth,

"I won't be there next time so feel free to wring them dry. I have enough time to teach this one a jutsu and back to his _mentor_ before the old man is sober, but only if we leave now."

They walked away and for the first time in a while, after having that connection of childhood and found family after so long, watching them walk away made her hurt, made her feel so indescribably lonely.

Itachi-chan paused for a second, and looking back, hair hidden under his too-long bangs, with a shattered smile, "I'll see you soon".

Ko's moment of melancholy was swiftly crushed by the monotonous voice beside her,

"So you are aiding and abetting a known criminal of Konoha and withholding information that he is in contact with the demon container?"

Ko looked down at the boy, his face gave away nothing, his mask unseeing, but in the shadows of the building she glimpsed the movement of a few unusual beetles, causing a small smile to grow.

"Ah don't talk about such sad things here Torune-kun. You're actually quite happy to be on a little trip huh?"

Torune flinched and his swarm was instantly recalled back under his sleeves, and pivoted head back to Konoha stiffly.

Ko followed him with a gentle hum and thought it best not to mention the redness of his ears.

During the run back Ko thought that Torune showed enough emotion for an Aburame, and far too much for Root. He must be –well it probably wasn't too far off to ask him if he wanted to eat dinner with her, the owners of the house being off on their respective missions.

"Would you like to eat some takeout at my current residence."

"Acceptable".

And so it was decided.

One stop at a side food stand later and the two were standing outside of the main Nara residence, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.

Not even a wandering cat had blocked their path, the air hung still, and sharp copper flooded down her throat, turning her stomach and making her gag on nothing.

Flinging open the main entrance to make _it _stop she was met with _darkness. _

Not the darkness of an empty house, but pressing tangible darkness. The feeling of eyes from every direction, the monster in the closet welcoming you home.

Cold fingers pressing into her, the yawning maw of an unquenched thirst for–

"Ko! Oh my Kami. Ko, you're back!"

Light seated her frozen brain as the darkness pulled back violently and the cold press of _nothing _became strong steely arms crushing her to a disturbingly familiar chest.

As Ko squirmed, the hold became tighter, and although she couldn't see anything, she could feel the chin propped on her head,

"You must have been out with a friend. That's why I couldn't find you. You were in the village, even though I searched the village, but I might have missed you because you. Were with. Your. –_friend_."

Nara-san's frantic onslaught slowed to a crawl as he bit out the last word, glacier cold.

Ko thought that it was unlikely that he had made the same connection on Torune's origins, who of course once accepting a task didn't have enough self preservation to run away when the much larger predator came into play.

She helpfully offered, knowing escape was futile, "That's Torune"

"_Ah_".

Then a different, _much more unwelcome_, voice genteelly called out,

"Let's not all stand on the porch. Is that food? How about we all relax. Inside."

Carefully releasing the pressure on Ko, Nara-san locked an iron grip around her wrist and started pushing towards the table, always keeping himself separating her and Torune.

Her badly abusing survival instincts crawled to her ear to whisper some very obvious and unwelcome commentary, _We are in so much trouble_.


	8. Chapter 8

Ko bowed deeply at the waist towards the blonde lounging at the table, stiffly standing behind a pushed back chair until Nara-san pulled her into the seat with an off balance yank. Ko eyed the man sitting at the table warily, "Yamanaka-san"

Hibiscus and honeysuckle bloomed in her mouth as she made eye contact with his light jade. Torune was settled in next to Yamanaka-san as Nara-san sat next to her. Isolated.

Was her leaving truly a call for back alley intimidation tactics? Perhaps they were just going to call it abandonment of the village with a hostage and finally kill her. She might welcome it as a change from the clawing nothingingness that made up her days.

With a static crinkle Ko placed the takeout on the table. Seeing nobody even twitch she pulled out the soup Torune gave away preference for and slid it over to him, taking the skewer bag for herself. There were still plenty of steamed vegetables and teriyaki pork left in the bag.

She nibbled on the skewer in the silence as the men continued to not move.

She got half way through before waving to the person next to her, "Not hungry Nara-san?"

She felt his arm drape over the back of her chair and his chakra coagulated in her throat as he leaned closer.

"Well if you're offering Ko-chan!"

She felt herself twitch back as he grabbed her hand holding the skewer and brought the food closer to him and took off a bite of her food. Ko swung her head towards him shocked, but he wasn't even looking at her, instead maintaining a sharp focus on the blonde across from her.

_Who exactly was in trouble here?_

Ko would have tried pushing up and away from the table but unfortunately was quite within the grasp of a high jonin so settled for "Well it seems that—" _we are unnecessary for your dick measuring contest_, she so badly wanted to finish when Nara-san abruptly interjected.

"Imagine my surprise when I come home after an exhausting mission. Almost _died_ finishing it in three days rather than a week, and who do I see in my kitchen? Not my adorable hard working son. Not even a trace of my Ko-chan. But a _thief_ breaking into my house and stealing my livelihood"

Yamanaka-san rolled his eyes and protested, "Shikaku I really think you're taking me swiping some cookies from your house way out of proportion. This isn't like you at all."

Nara-san grinned sharply and his killing intent was even sharper and Ko just wanted to _leave. _Torune was still eating his soup as happily as he could express.

Nara-san growled "It is if I find you here after I remember expressly warning you away from this compound for the next few months."

Yamanaka-san scoffed, "What? You think I came over specifically to find the little homewrecker?"

Ko twitched her abdomen and decided that her wound was still relatively fresh enough from the last time Nara-san split it open. She took her skewer and stabbed her gut, ripping her stitches. She looked at the shocked men blankly and monotoned, "Oh no. I'm bleeding. I should go."

"Alright Sakura go ahead. Try to pay attention to what's different when applying healing chakra for when someone is infected because they got stabbed like a dumbass from an unsanitary tool."

Ko watched Sakura-san apply a glowing hand to her slowly reconstructing wound and idly commented, "I have a water nature so the skewer was quite disinfected." She then looked around to the pale walls of the atrium and the bright full moon captured in the window, "Is this the Hokage Tower?"

Hokage-sama scoffed, "I don't answer stupid questions. You walked yourself here, you know where you are."

Sakura-san looked up for a second at Ko and offered a slight smile before ducking back down to look at the wound after being thwaped by the Hokage. She commented quietly but lightly, "Couldn't have found another way to excuse yourself from dinner other than mortal wounds?"

Ko cast back to the seconds before, the overwhelming tension of two jonins with only thin wood between them. They barely registered anyone else in the room. "No." She left it at that.

Ko felt sugar break away and dissolve and knew that Sakura-san had run out of usable chakra. She saw the girl pull away and "Shishou. There's too much damage, I don't think this is a stabbing."

Hokage-sama poked Ko in the shoulder roughly and sent a wave of dirt coursing through her bloodstream. Ko closed her eyes and sighed deeply internally. She was tired and just wanted to rest. She didn't know why she was here, or how, but the whole stunt had been about wanting to sleep.

She could have stitched herself up.

Another larger wave of mud pushed itself through her body, sweeping away her consciousness with it.

Ko distantly heard a few voices arguing fiercely and then a door slammed. Her eyes shot open and she was, lying down? She looked around and took in the sterile environment, _hospital_. And then took in the man sitting wearily next to her. _He was suppressing his chakra again. Bastard. _

He rested his head in his hands and asked, "So were you planning on telling anyone that you were missing a few organs, or was I supposed to hear that from the coroner's?"

Ko blinked, moving her eyes away from his defeated posture and towards the ceiling. She eventually shrugged. "It was healing. I can sew things up myself."

He started, "With organs you can't—" and then stopped. She heard him take a few breaths before continuing, "I didn't know. I didn't know that you were hurt. I know that my actions probably made everything worse."

Ko waited but the silence continued on. She wasn't sure what exactly she was waiting for but eventually decided that she wasn't going to get it. "Can I leave?"

Nara-san pushed himself to his feet, "Yeah. We can go back. And Inoichi's gone so you don't have to worry about him."

Ko set her feet down and tried to get up, reveling in the feeling that rushed into her and the sudden awareness that she didn't realize was missing. She looked at him waiting for a response, "Oh. I wasn't worried about him." She walked past him out the door, "Why are you here anyway?"

Nara-san followed unnervingly close behind, "I'm just looking out for stray roots that might have to be cut down."

Ko quirked her head, "Did Torune come to visit? That's nice of him. Stop trying to scare him, he doesn't deserve it."

His lack of response was a bit unusual for how chatty he had been becoming, but Ko, was tired and didn't want to think too hard or be curious about anything other than when she got to sleep. Perhaps she'd have more energy to be annoying in the morning, now that the drain on her chakra, which was probably going towards keeping her alive, was no longer needed.

So she didn't protest too much when Nara-san picked her up to activate a shunshin to the compound. She was asleep minutes later.


	9. Chapter 9

This time when she awoke, it was to a familiar soft mattress and cocoon of blankets. Ko untucked the sheets from around her and stumbled to the ground, falling into the arms of Nara-san, _who was still there_.

"Am I going to have to get used to being stared at in my sleep for the rest of my life?"

Instead of releasing her and leaving, what she really would have preferred so that she could go back to pretending that everything was fine and her life was great and she totally knew what she was doing, Nara-san tightened his grip and tucked her underneath his chin, in an uncomfortable paternal way.

Ko didn't have parents. She _didn't _want them. She had a family, they died, and eventually, she would meet up with them again.

"Have you ever heard of the Kinokawa clan?"

Ko shrugged in a limited fashion and fought the urge to do anything ill-advised as something cold brushed over her,

"They were a small civilian clan. Yoshino's family. And she would always say that she saw a piece of herself in every person that she loved. And she loved you. So, you're family. And that's why we're taking care of you. So next time. Please tell me, and just stop suffering in silence." Nara-san spoke low and slowly. Carefully picking his way across a minefield.

And despite the feeling in his voice, something about what he was saying rang untrue. Maybe it was the minor slipping of his chakra masking. But unfortunately, through the tang of copper and feeling wholly healthy for the first time in years, and scores of free time and nothing to look forward to, Ko felt a new flood of curiosity and a new hint.

And a civilian born ninja with a father who worked for the records department of the civilian town hall.

Standing in silence for another minute and a half was too awkward even for Nara-san and within the half hour Ko was sliding up to Sakura-san at her overburdened work table.

"You know, I don't think oak is supposed to bend that way. Can't you put some scrolls on the floor?"

Sakura-san shrieked and jumped out of her chair, banging her knee harshly on the underside of the table. Ko had to stifle a huff of amusement at the supposed ninja's fumbling.

Sakura-san pushed her hair back and turned to Ko with a tight smile, "Is there something I can help you with Ko? Are you even supposed to be up? It hasn't been that long since you escaped from the hospital _after regrowing vital organs_."

_Well she offered_, "I guess Nara-san was stealthy. Can you introduce me to your father?"

Sakura-san's face froze and then developed a twitch in the corner of her mouth, "Um. I mean I guess. I assume you mean at his work, I don't really want you as a stepmother. Ino's got that whole thing going for you and I don't want to step on her vibe."

Feeling incredibly old, Ko stared blankly at the younger girl, _vibe, thing, why do young children sometimes make absolutely no sense. _

Taking her silence evidently as confusion, as it was, over who Ino was, which was another random thing that meant nothing to her, Sakura-san tried to explain, "She knows you, you don't know her. Um, you know how Yamanaka techniques are all taught between family members? She says that dreams bleed over sometimes. So yeah."

_So yeah, Yamanaka are weird. Groundbreaking. _

Ko tilted her head and asked, already having fully dismissed that nonsense conversation, "So. Are we going?"

"Oh right now? Right! It would be still work hours! Right! ...ha" Sakura straightened her hair nervously and made a beeline for the door, Ko falling in step behind her.

Although Konoha liked to project the air of civilian and shinoni sectors of the populace working together in harmony, they tended to be rather segregated, which also translated into their important places. Thus, the civilian town hall was across the village from the Hokage Tower, and in the epicentre of the civilian sector, markets and housing extending around it in rings.

The woman at the counter barely paid the two going through staff doors a second glance after spotting Sakura-san's distinctive coloring.

Ko glanced down at Sakura-san's stiff walk and suddenly reflected on the entirely silent journey. Was that weird? Torune hadn't seemed to mind the silence earlier.

Sakura-san suddenly chimed out gleefully, "Dad!"

The pastel girl and pastel man hugged tightly, and the man peered over at Ko, discerning what he could through thick dust covered bottle cap glasses.

"Why do I have the honor of my brilliant daughter visiting me at work?"

Sakura-san babbled a bit before getting to the meat of the purpose, "This is Ko! She wanted to talk to you about work! And I do have to go back before Lady Tsunade comes out of her meeting! I'll see you at home!" Sakura-san and her father hugged on more time before she skittered out the door on a poorly constructed excuse.

Haruno-san sketched a quick bow, "What can I help you with Ko-san?"

"I wanted to see the Kinokawa clan documents, if I can."

He cocked his head and thought for a long moment, "There are no surviving members of the clan and no flagged subjects, so I believe that genin clearance is more than enough to view them, I'll bring you over to the files."

Soon enough Ko was settled at a table in the back room with a thick set of many thin folders with her and left alone in silence.

Yoshino's folder would be stored with the shinobi files that she wouldn't be able to access, but her civilian clan, not so much.

Minutes slipped by. The loud ticking of the clock above her echoed through the room as she paged through file after inconsequential file. Nothing was out of the ordinary, nothing was off. Which was weird in and of itself, not one incident?

Ko put her current file down and stared at a checkmark in the right hand corner of the page. Did all of them have that? What was it for?

She reorganized her pile and went through them once more, focusing only on the checkmark and separating them into piles of have and have-not. The piles heavily favored the have, the have-nots all seeming to be bastard children, distant cousins, those that didn't quite fit the mold of the main clan.

Ko gathered the folders and moved back towards the shelving units where Haruno-san was working and returned them. Squaring her shoulders she asked, "What do the checkmarks mean?"

Haruno-san hummed lightly and flipped open the first page of the top file, a note of recognition escaping him, "Ah. This clan carried a certain technique through full or mostly blooded members. Not to the extent of being a true bloodline, but nifty enough. I think it had to do somewhat with marking a target, I heard they used it to keep track of small children in the clan. Sakura would know more about this certain one than me I'm afraid. She had a bit of a research spree on it a while back."

Right on cue, the woman from the front walked back to inform Haruno-san that his daughter had dropped off some food for him.

Haruno-san waved Ko away, "If you leave now you might catch her."

With Sakura-san traveling at civilian speeds through the district and Ko not, she was able to catch up to her readily.

"Sakura-san! I hear from your father that you did a little bit of research a few years ago?"

Sakura-san startled and dropped the grocery bag in her hands, Ko catching it before it hit the street and handing it back, "Ah! Um yes, thank you. I tend to get caught up on things. What are you looking for?"

Ko examined the street quickly but it was so very _civilian _and the only taste of sweetness was from Sakura-san, "Do you know about the technique from the Kinokawa clan?"

A dark, deeply annoyed expression stole across Sakura-san's face, "Yeah. I do. I suppose you want to hear about it?" At Ko's answering nod she sighed heavily as they walked, "Fine. But don't repeat any of this to the Nara's you live with, even though it's their fault i know so much." Sakura-san fiddled with her grocery bag, much more overtly examining the street before continuing, "It's kind of a tagging system. When a member of the family gets attached to someone, friend, child, lover, they unconsciously split a piece of their chakra off which integrates usually into the recipients. I've never read or seen it happen to an enemy shinobi, so I think it's restricted by positive emotions. It doesn't do much, just gives them a general location within proximity, and if _someone_ has their chakra activated, if it flares in distress they're more attuned to it and _hi Shikimaru_." The last few words were said behind gritted words as the boy blocking their way lazily waved.

"Hi Sakura. I was conveniently going this way and thought you might need some help with your bag?"

Ko had to hide her expression behind a curtain of hair quickly. Dear Kami, how had this boy been allowed to become such a terrible liar.

Sakura-san grinned cold and sharp and suddenly Ko had a vision of just what enemy nations might come to fear one day in this tiny slip of a girl, "Oh? _How Convenient_."


End file.
